Having served in the military myself, albeit not in an “elite” unit like the Israeli Air Force, I can imagine the courage needed to take this principled stand:
The 27 Air Force pilots informed their commander that from now on they would refuse to fulfil immoral and illegal orders that would cause the death of civilians. At the end of their statement, they criticized the occupation that is corrupting Israel and undermining its security.
The most senior officer among the signatories is Major General Yiftah Spector, who is also a living legend. He is the son of one of the “23 men in the boat”, a group that was sent in World War II to demolish oil installations in Lebanon (at the time under Nazi-puppet Vichy French control) and never heard of again. Yiftah Spector was the instructor of many of the present commanders of the Air Force. Altogether, the statement was signed by one general, 2 colonels, 9 lieutenant colonels, 8 majors and 7 captains.
It is clear to me that the government of Israel (led by Arial Sharon) is both out of control and out of touch with reality. As a libertarian, the concept of “suicide bombings”, perpetrated by the Palestinians is disgusting and clearly a crime against humanity. However, Israel simply cannot use the specter of terrorism as carte blanch to kill and maim at will. A Palestinian kills 20 civilians and it is called terrorism (and rightly so). An Israeli fighter plane kills twenty civilians and it is called self defense. This, of course, stems from the ridiculous claim that states cannot and do not conduct terrorism because, well, they are the state and hence, above that.
America should have the courage to cut off all foreign aid to Israel (as well as Egypt and Jordan). Israel has one of the mightiest armies on the face of the earth, with an arsenal of nuclear weapons to back it up. It is unjust and immoral to take an American citizen’s money and transfer it to a foreign government’s military. Especially when that military acts the way the Israeli military acts. Without the huge influx of American money, perhaps Israel and “Palestine” can come to a reasonable peace agreement, if not coexistence.
